2 Comments

Gerhard:

The answer to the sticky problem should be the value of the integral from 0 to 1, of the minimum of x and 1-x.
(The cut is made at point x, and produces a piece of length x and a rest piece of length 1-x.)
This value is 1/4.

James:

The smallest piece will be on the interval (0,50]. Each outcome except 50 is equally likely since there are two ways of cutting the stick to get each numbers on (0,50) while there is only 1 way to cut the stick so that the smaller stick is 50. So, roughly speaking, it seems like it should be 1/4.